


Get You Out of the Cold

by cashewdani



Category: The Office (US)
Genre: F/M, Infidelity, The Michael Scott Paper Company
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-05
Updated: 2009-04-05
Packaged: 2018-01-15 02:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1288195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cashewdani/pseuds/cashewdani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>She feels like a part of something, even if it's just this three man operation being run off Ryan's laptop.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Get You Out of the Cold

Michael insists on them having breakfast together every morning at the island in his kitchen, and actually, it does wind up to be a nice way to start the day out, surprisingly. He makes French Toast and omelettes with all sorts of ingredients and the lightest chocolate chip pancakes Pam's ever eaten. And she'd be worried about gaining fifteen pounds before her wedding, but the stress of not having a real job seems to be balancing everything out, even the cinnamon rolls. She starts bringing over the waffle iron Jim's brother got them as an engagement present, and Ryan offers to make scrambled eggs since it's the only thing he knows how to cook, and they call it "The Morning Meeting".

Even though they probably should be using this time, like all their time, to discuss how they're going to get this company off the ground and out of Michael's condo, they don't. Michael tries to do headlines from the Scranton Times like he's Jay Leno, and Ryan reads whatever ridiculous chain e-mails his mother's forwarded to him and Pam likes it, the calm start to her day. Sitting there, leisurely drinking coffee, talking about what was on TV the night before. She feels like a part of something, even if it's just this three man operation being run off Ryan's laptop.

After breakfast, she does this dishes, not because someone asked asked her to, but because she genuinely doesn't mind.

\----

They work late a lot, and not in the intentional way where Michael tells them he's going to need them to stay to finish up on something, but where Pam will look up from designing the company logo and it will be dark outside already.

Tonight is one of those nights, and her and Ryan have been trying to get a presentation in order to show to the vendors, but Powerpoint keeps freezing up. It's frustrating, and she's tired, and Jim keeps texting her, wondering when she's going to be home. Once the thing malfunctions for the third time, she flops back on the futon, utterly defeated. "We are never going to finish this."

"We'll finish it."

"Are you making it crash on purpose because you don't want to watch _Dancing with the Stars_ with your mom? Because some of us have other things to get home to."

"Yeah, like what? A stupid clown painting and a fiancee who's mad at you?" He's not being mean, in fact, she thinks he's kidding. Like he's the Ryan she first started working with what feels like a million years ago, before the MBA and the coke and the fraud. She can't believe she told him about the clown painting.

"Shut up."

"That's what I thought." He boots up the system again, and says, "Take off your shoes, we're going to be awhile."

She keeps insisting on getting dressed for work, wearing lipstick and suits and doing her hair even if all they're doing is staying at Michael's place. While Ryan's mentality is if there isn't anyone else present, he's coming into work in t-shirts and sweats. But, it's almost 7 and she's been wearing these heels all day, so she listens. She can be a professional saleswoman in her stockings if she so chooses.

They keep going, Michael periodically sticking his head in from where he's assembling office furniture in the other room. And by office furniture, Pam means the desk he used in high school that his mother still had down in her storage unit, but still, somewhat applicable. Ryan finishes another slide, and she takes over as she thinks he's going to go blind if he sits there any longer. Even so, he keeps leaning over her, pointing at things he thinks she should move, or asking how she can type so quickly without making any mistakes. Eventually, she just hands him one of the cigarettes she's started carrying in her bag for him, and asks him to please have a smoke because she's stressing him out more than this project.

"You want to join me?"

"For the last time," she says, "I don't smoke because I didn't have to go to rehab and then work at a shitty bowling alley".

"The bowling alley wasn't shitty," he says, cracking the window just a little, because it's April but still apparently winter out. Pam shoots him a look, still typing away about Michael's fifteen years of experience in the field. "Ok, yeah, it was kind of shitty. I'll admit."

After two more cigarettes and a dinner request from Michael, they're finished. Finally, they're finished. And Ryan's smiling at Pam while she's asking for high fives, and she feels accomplished and productive and this is so much better than answering phones and fixing copy machines and trying to find a brand of candy that everybody likes. She's actually jumping up and down a little, and Ryan's hugging her then, saying, "I know you're a dork, but this still isn't a proportionate response."  

Michael's downstairs making chicken quesadillas, and Pam's just so excited that the next thing she knows, she's making out with Ryan up against a wall in a room that still smells like Jan's candles, even after all this time. Like she has no idea at all how it started, even though she thinks it was probably her leaning in, and putting her lips against his.

Ryan's a good kisser, great actually, phenomenal even, if she's being honest. God, she completely gets why Kelly went insane over him. He puts both hands on the sides of her face, and bites her bottom lip, and right now, Pam doesn't even care how ridiculous his hair looks. It feels that incredible.

She knows it's horrible and wrong, and that Jim's waiting for her at home. But, she also knows that Ryan's been seeing a piece of her all this time that Jim only thought existed. Jim _believes_ that Pam can do something for Michael's company, but Ryan _knows_ it.

Ryan tastes like smoke, and the Diet Mountain Dew he's obsessed with drinking and Pam doesn't let herself think about the fact that every guy she's ever made out with, she's eventually ended up engaged to.

They're just celebrating, and it doesn't mean anything. Not even when he slips his hand into her shirt and she moans so loudly, she's sure Michael's going to come upstairs and ask them if they're watching porn. But he doesn't, and somehow, even without that embarrassing event, they manage to pull apart. Pam doesn't really know how.

Tomorrow they're going to come into work, and show Michael the presentation after bagels and orange juice, and this is going to be something they never talk about.

She gets her stuff together, and thanks Michael for the dinner offer but she's got to get home. To the man she just cheated on. Pam walks out to her car holding her shoes, feeling like she's coming alive and dying at the same time. Driving home, she smokes three cigarettes of Ryan's and doesn't know what else to do.


End file.
